Program gambling expert: Current US gambling law akin to prohibition

07 September, 2009

“All I do is satisfy public demand.” – Al Capone

The newspaper In Business Las Vegas ran an extensive interview this weekend with Nevada Council on Problem Gambling executive director Carol O’Hare, herself a self-described “recovering compulsive gambler.”

Naturally, the question of online gambling was presented to Ms. O’Hare. Though she pointed out that the council does not hold any position pro or con on online gambling, O’Hare’s very Nevadan libertarian instincts came to the fore in answering the question: She metaphorically scratches her head because she has “to ask you today, ‘Is it legal or illegal’?”

Argued O’Hare, “We have to continually focus on how we mitigate the circumstances for these individuals [problem gamblers who play online], not how we regulate the problem out of existence. We tried prohibition in this country once. It didn’t work.”

To which Silver Bets says, “hear, hear!” Advocates of legalization/regulation for the online casino industry have often compared the current legal state of internet gambling in the post-UIGEA (a.k.a. the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) era to the US’ flirtation with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s or even the current state of laws regarding marijuana, but to see the two compared in such a mainstream source is refreshing, indeed.

In the meantime, just call Silver Bets online casino “Capone dot com.”